Pakistani drug peddler on the run from Nepal jails detained in Tripura
Agartala: A 50-year-old Pakistani woman, who had reportedly escaped from a Nepal prison where she was serving a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking, was arrested by security forces in South Tripura late Saturday night, officials said on Sunday.
Police identified the woman as Louis Nighat Akhtar Bhano, wife of Mohammad Golaf Faraj from Village Younganabad, Chak No. 371, Sheikhupura district in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Government Railway Police (GRP) detained her at Sabroom Railway Station around 8:30 pm after she arrived on the Kanchanjunga Express from Siliguri, police sources said.
Initially, the woman introduced herself as Saheena Parveen from Purani Basti, Delhi, claiming she had lived in the national capital for several years working as a domestic help.
However, she failed to produce valid identity proof. During a search, officials found several Pakistani contact numbers hidden in folded sheets of paper tied around her waist.
After prolonged interrogation, she admitted her true identity and revealed that she had traveled to Nepal about 12 years ago using a Pakistani passport to smuggle drugs.
Nepal Police arrested her in 2014 with one kilogram of brown sugar and sentenced her to 15 years in prison.
She had been lodged in Kathmandu Jail until she escaped last month during a period of unrest.
Police said the woman entered India about 15 to 16 days ago through West Bengal, crossing the Bangladesh border with the help of an agent.
She then traveled to Delhi and, following instructions from her handler, attempted to return to Pakistan via Bangladesh.
When she failed to find a route through West Bengal, she traveled to Tripura and boarded the Kanchanjunga Express from Siliguri to Sabroom, hoping to cross the border there.
Tripura shares an 856-kilometre porous border with Bangladesh, making it a vulnerable corridor for cross-border infiltration, smuggling, and human trafficking.
Senior police and intelligence officials are conducting intensive interrogation to ascertain her movements, contacts, and possible links to transnational criminal or espionage networks.